Health Behavior
Conditions
Keywords
exercise
Brief summary
Sufficient physical activity and a good cardiorespiratory fitness level (CRF) are central in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction. However, many people remain inactive, partly because current exercise recommendations fail to address important barriers to exercise. A novel exercise protocol has previously been developed called 'reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training' (REHIT), which can remove several common perceived barriers to exercise. REHIT 1) improves CRF and other key CVD risk factors, 2) is genuinely time-efficient (total time-commitment of just 2x10 min per week), 3) is well-tolerated, manageable, and not associated with negative affective responses, and 4) can be done in the workplace, in work-clothes and without a need to shower afterwards. To date, this intervention has only been investigated in a lab-setting. Therefore, in the present randomised controlled trial, the 'real-world' effectiveness of REHIT in improving maximal aerobic capacity (V̇O2max; a key risk factors of CVD) will be investigated in a workplace setting. Participants' attitudes and psychological responses to REHIT will be assessed to evaluate the likelihood of successful implementation. In 2 study centres, a total of up to n=50 physically inactive male and female office workers will be recruited to perform 6 weeks of unsupervised, computer-guided, office-based REHIT (n=25) or act as a control (n=25).
Interventions
REHIT is a type of Sprint Interval Training (SIT) that has been shown to be efficacious at improving maximal aerobic capacity using a minimal volume of exercise.
Sponsors
Swansea University
University of Stirling
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
RCT
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
• Employee at participating workplace
Exclusion criteria
* Aged \< 18 years or \> 60 years * History of type 2 diabetes * Insulin therapy * Use of β-blockers * Use of inhaled steroids (e.g. for asthma) * Any cardiovascular condition with the exception of well-controlled uncomplicated hypertension (systolic \>140 mm Hg and/or \>90 mm Hg after at least 5 minutes of seated rest), which is treated with no more than two drugs (either an ACE, ARB, calcium channel blocker, or diuretic) * Cerebrovascular disease including previous stroke or aneurysm * History of exercise-induced asthma * History of type 1 diabetes mellitus or a history of ketoacidosis * History of other specific types of diabetes (e.g., genetic syndromes, secondary pancreatic diabetes, diabetes due to endocrinopathies, drug or chemical-induced, and post organ transplant) * History of respiratory disease including pulmonary hypertension or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease * History of musculoskeletal or neurological disorders * Active inflammatory bowel disease * History of renal disease * Other metabolic diseases, including hyper/ hypo-parathyroidism, hyper/hypo-thyroidism, and Cushing's disease. * BMI\>35 kg/m2 * A clinically significant resting ECG abnormality at the pre-screening visit which in the opinion of the cardiologist exposes the participant to risk by take part in the main trial. * 'Yes' to any questions on a standard physical activity readiness questionnaire (PARQ) * Classification as moderately or highly physically active on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) * Current participation in another research study * Inability to fully understand the verbal and written descriptions of the study in English, and the instructions provided during the study
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in maximal aerobic capacity | Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention | Aerobic capacity: a key risk factor of noncommunicable disease |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in motivation for exercise | Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention | Motivation to exercise as assessed using the RM 4-FM questionnaire, a 16-item questionnaire assessing reasons for trying to be physically active on a scale from 1 ('not at all true') to 7 ('very true'). Higher scores indicate a greater motivation for performing exercise. Scores are added to get an overall score, with higher overall scores indicating greater intrinsic motivation. |
| Change in health status | Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention | Health status as assessed using the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF36), which is a 36-item, patient-reported survey of patient health. The SF-36 consists of eight scaled scores, which are the weighted sums of the questions in their section. Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. The lower the score the more disability. The higher the score the less disability i.e., a score of zero is equivalent to maximum disability and a score of 100 is equivalent to no disability. |
| Change in perceived stress | Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention | Perceived stress as assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire, which measures the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. The 10-item questionnaire ask for the frequency of stressful events in the last month, scored on a scale from 0 ('never') to 4 ('very often'). The sum score is taken, with higher scores indicating more perceived stress. |
| Intervention acceptability | 3 days after the 6-week intervention | Intervention acceptability as assessed using a questionnaire published by Boereboom et al (2016). This 11-item questionnaire asks how strongly participants agree with statements on the acceptability of the exercise intervention on a scale from 1 ('strongly disagree') to 5 ('strongly agree'). |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed